paradigms. The essay does not, however, mention religion or theologyand how these may be places of liberation for women, even though theessay’s author is a religious woman.

These critiques, though, are not meant to dissuade readers fromencountering and dealing with the text. The essays within are impor-tant, especially in light of the problems faced by the African continent,many of which have been caused or exasperated by the influence ofNorthern and Western ways of thinking. This volume offers manyunique insights into the way that Christianity can be performed in sucha way that it counters and overcomes the oppressive paradigms. In fact,one of the things I liked best about the collection is the set of practicalimplications included with each essay. These point to specific ways thatthe essays can be put into action in order offer help to Africa as a whole.They also point to the fact that these authors are invested in seeing theAfrican continent overcome its problems in order to thrive in thefuture.

Nathan CrawfordPlymouth, IN

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The Poverty of Radical Orthodoxy, Lisa Isherwood and Marko Zlo-mislic (eds.), Wipf & Stock, 2012 (ISBN 978-71-60899-937-8), xiii + 235pp., pb $28

This collection of essays presents a critical feminist and liberation the-ology perspective on Radical Orthodoxy (RO). RO is arguably the mostinfluential movement in contemporary Anglophone theology and isthus in real need of informed and credible critique. Many of the essaysin this volume do not, unfortunately, meet these criteria.

Most of the articles are investigations of a particular perceived short-coming of RO, such as its insensitivity to intercultural and interreli-gious perspectives, the inadequacy of its understanding of desire, itswrong reading of nominalism and the Franciscan tradition, and itsexcessively authoritarian vision of ecclesia. John Milbank, CatherinePickstock and Graham Ward are the main objects of criticism, thoughthe latter two receive more sympathetic treatment than Milbank. Mostcontributors defend a wholesale rejection of RO perspectives, with afew more appreciative and nuanced contributions, such as Sigrid Gud-marsdottir’s assessment of Graham Ward’s ‘schizoid Christ’, and JennyDaggers’ ‘Feminist Theology and Radical Orthodoxy in Ludic Encoun-ter’ which conducts conversations between Milbank and Catherine

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Keller, and between Pickstock and Mayra Rivera. Marcus Pound’s ‘TheEucharist is Drive’ is the only piece which seems more an appreciationand appropriation than a critique. Three articles deal directly withparticular theologians: J.G. Hamann, Kierkegaard and John HowardYoder. The first two dispute Milbank’s reading of these figures, the lastsuggests a new conversation partner for RO. These are the three con-tributions likely to be of most interest to RO itself. Katie Terezakis offersa helpful critical examination of Milbank’s use of Hamann, a figure ofgreat importance in the RO canon. Angus Paddison’s proposal of Yoderas a theologian who can be used to question RO’s understanding ofGod, the church, and earthly power, is perhaps the most percipient anduseful essay in the volume. Paddison shows how a Radical Reformationtheology and ecclesiology stand for a prophetic non-conformism whichis true ‘radicalism’, a radicalism which ‘Radical’ Orthodoxy, with itsallegiance to the ideal of Christendom, cannot match. Paddison’s use ofYoder to question Milbank’s opposition to pacifism (p. 160) is one of themost memorable arguments in the book: according to Yoder, Jesus doesnot question the use of violence for unjust ends, which would beuncontroversial, but questions our moral instincts at the deepest levelby rejecting the use of violence for just ends.

Paddison’s approach highlights the shortcomings of this collection.His critique is credible to RO because it comes from a theologicalperspective which it can recognize as responsible to a tradition oftheology and church discipline, and is accountable to an authoritativeChristian orthodoxy. Many of the other contributors reject receivedunderstandings of Christian orthodoxy in such a far-reaching way thatRO will have difficulty recognizing them as standing within thesame tradition or participating in the same conversation. To whom, forexample, are Lisa Isherwood (Chapter 1), Christopher Newell (Chapter9) and Paul Hedges (Chapter 6) actually accountable in their presenta-tion of Christian faith and practice? The editors reflect the view of mostof their contributors when they say that it is ‘from . . . lived experience[that] what may be known as the divine will become clear. . . . [T]hereis no rigid set of theological truths, but there is an unshakable belief inthe love and liberating power of God, who works through the createdorder and unfolds in that process’ (p. xii). But this liberationist, processunderstanding of God and God’s action precisely is a theological truth,which is necessarily metaphysical in that it does embody a claim aboutreality as such, and this claim functions as the standard of the critiquemost of the contributors conduct.

A theological conversation is being proposed which explicitly wantsto proceed ‘without . . . a shared theological starting point’ (p. xii), andseems to think that such a lack of a shared starting-point is justwhat characterizes theology at its best (see Newell’s account of ‘eccle-sia’, Chapter 9). RO would not recognize this as ‘theology’ in that it

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embodies no acknowledgement that theology works from a commonambition to know and tell the truth. A number of contributors disputethe value of ‘truth’ altogether in theology, such as Michael Todd, whocritiques RO from the point of view of ‘evidential theology’ and ‘uncer-tain theology’, methodologies which replace a theological starting pointwith pseudo-scientific evidentialism. But without some realist refer-ence the move towards radicalism appears vapidly, amorally political.The usefulness of the volume is further diminished by the limitedknowledge many of the contributors have of their target; for example,Paul Hedges’ presentation of Milbank as disinterested in the culturalconditions of theological thinking evinces an extraordinarily inattentivereading of Milbank’s work, as does Marko Zlomislic’s polemic againstRO’s ‘Dominican’ realism, which does not engage with the substantialarguments RO has brought forward in defense of a metaphysics ofparticipation. The poor editing, grammar and spelling is an additionaltrial for the reader.

By bringing to bear a political critique, sensitive to the dynamics oftheological power in which certain voices are excluded or controlled,this collection presents some important perspectives on RO thatneed exploring more fully. Further critiques, however, need to bebetter informed about RO itself, and more theologically rigorous andresponsible.

Carmody GreyUniversity of Bristol

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Prophetic Jesus, Prophetic Church: The Challenge of Luke-Acts toContemporary Christians, Luke Timothy Johnson, Eerdmans, 2011(ISBN 978-0-8028-0390-0), vii + 198 pp., pb $23

Professor Johnson, a life-long Roman Catholic layperson, has writtenseveral books in his academic career. However, this stimulating bookon Luke-Acts, written primarily for readers within the faith community,is significant in many respects. First, Johnson draws his readers’ atten-tion to the role of prophecy in ancient Israel and the startling propheticvision of Jesus and the early church in Luke-Acts. Second, the bookhighlights the chronic and desperate human need for the voice ofprophecy. The Christian tradition has always had prophetic visionsto challenge the usual assumptions and accustomed practices ofevery generation, particularly within the church itself, and arouse andempower people with new insight and energy. The need for the

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